September 2019 - San Isabel National Forest

This was one of only three things that Corey wanted for his birthday:  Lego sets, a Drone (yeah right!), and a camping trip with just him and Dad.

The day was absolutely crazy.  I had been running some computer cabling and installing the new projector for our Church this week in hopes of getting it installed before the Missions Conference, but didn't get it all done on Thursday, so I had to finish it up this morning.  On my way home, I got a call from a friend that does videos for a realtor with an "emergency" voice over request, so I stopped at the house to record that real quick.  Packed the truck, and then I went and picked up Corey from School early.  Any time we take a trip, we always say a prayer and ask for protection (which Corey wanted to do this time instead of Dad).  So, after his prayer, we headed for his choice of a camping spot, a little place we found back during our Spring Break trip that got cut short due to weather.  We stopped at Mountain Equipment Recyclers near downtown, and Corey found an item on their $5 rack (I've found everything on that rack, stoves, lanterns, you name it!) and we grabbed it and headed out for our destination.  Our only stop was the grocery store to get some biscuits for our dessert that night: biscuits on a stick!  After leaving there, we went through Wetmore, passing the Wetmore Baptist Church where a friend of ours pastors, and reached our destination.  After scouting around a little bit, we decided that this was too much out in the open and the we wanted some TREES!  I had spied another spot just a little bit down the road, so we headed there.  Once we arrived, we setup camp and quickly discovered that we had brought FUEL......but NO STOVE!  We had planned to build a small fire for the biscuits on a stick, but it was incredibly windy, and I didn't want to be THAT guy.  You know, the one that sets the woods on fire because he wanted a roasted marshmallow.....

Corey and I gathered sticks and then rearranged the rocks in the fire pit that was already there at our campsite into a smaller and taller fire ring, and then put sand around the bottom.  We put  flat rock on the side of the fire ring specifically for the coffee pot, built a small fire, and then waited for some coals to be established.  Eventually we put our coffee pot of water on to get hot....which seemed to have taken for-ever. I really want a Kelly Kettle, specifically for this purpose! When the water was finally hot enough, we poured it over Corey's choice for dinner: Ramen Noodles!  After that, we did make a couple of biscuits on a stick, but that was about it.  I could feel a headache coming on, and Corey said he was tired already and wanted to go to bed and "watch the movie".  Our normal Friday night routine is to get pizza and watch a movie at home, one child getting a turn at picking the movie each week.  Corey was upset that we couldn't watch one this week, but I told him that we would get to watch God's movie, which was the stars and the moon.  When we setup the tent, I showed him the "movie screen", which was the top windows in the roof of the tent.  So, once we got settled in, we laid there and chatted about the days events, and waited for the stars to appear.  "There's one!" he would exclaim after finding one through the window on the top of the rooftop tent.  "Ohhhh, there's another!  and another one!" He would soon discover the moon coming up over the mountain and lighting up the inside of our sleeping cave for the night, and then fell asleep sometime shortly after that.  I, however, did not get that pleasure...

Every 20 minutes or so, I'd wake up to excruciating pain in my head.  I just kept dozing off hoping that it would subside soon, but it never did.  About 2:30 in the morning, I exited the tent searching for anything that could possibly knock the edge off of this pain in my head. Glove box was empty..  My pack was empty, I just couldn't' find anything medicine wise.  I usually keep some kind of pain medicine in the truck but for whatever reason, it just wasn't there. I was in such pain that I vomited.  That doesn't happen very often, but this was a doozy. I then remembered having a Boost Oxygen tank  under the kids seat in the back, so I dug around by the light of the moon and found it.  I took several long breaths from the can, and took it back up to the tent with me.  It was pretty chilly that night, so I had my head under the covers, and every time I'd wake up, I'd let some of that oxygen loose, which ended up being often.  I finally drifted off to sleep.

What a blessing to wake up with no headache!  Instead, another kind of headache: Day two without a camp stove, which meant no breakfast of bacon and pancakes (Corey's choice for breakfast, but that also meant no coffee for me!), so we had to settle for a granola bar or two.  We packed up and headed back home pretty early because Corey wanted to go to our Church Outreach so that he could get his "Evangelism" badge award from Master Clubs, a program that our church supports and our kids attend on Wednesday nights.  A brief stop at a Carl's Jr. (that took FOR-E.V.E.R.), and a hour later we were in the parking lot at church. A quick trip for a little dude who got everything he wanted for his birthday  Except for a drone.  And Pancakes. :-)